Street protests against high prices and underinvestment in public services continued across France despite nationwide restrictions on demonstrations. Authorities deployed 70,000 police officers along with helicopters and armored vehicles to prevent a repeat of earlier violence, but the protests, led mainly by students and labor unions, showed no sign of easing.
Demonstrations took place across France under tight police control on the 24th, according to AFP and the Associated Press. President Emmanuel Macron had earlier announced a ban on all protests other than authorized union demonstrations, and several regional authorities issued full or partial bans.
In Paris, a union march had initially been permitted to proceed east from the Place de la Bastille, but city police ordered the route moved at the last minute to Porte d'Italie in the southeast, far from the city center.
Protesters marched with placards reading "If we burn, you burn with us" and "The planet is burning and our future is burning with it." Paris police said they had confiscated "various prohibited items" by midday but described the situation as largely calm.
Subway stations across central Paris were closed as a result of the protests. Major cultural institutions including the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay shut for the day, and the international art fair Art Basel Paris closed early the previous day.
Shops ranging from luxury boutiques to grocery stores boarded up windows and cleared merchandise from displays in preparation for damage and looting. Some stores brought in private security staff.
The Yellow Vest movement announced additional protests for Saturday the 31st. A representative of the group told reporters at the Place de la Bastille that they would demonstrate for the freedom to protest and for the freedom of all.
In Lyon, where protests were banned entirely, about 150 people gathered near a university and a police station and pressed ahead with demonstrations, attempting to block roads. Police threw tear gas to disperse the crowd.
A 21-year-old student told AFP that police moved quickly and broke up demonstrators before they could even gather.
Protests also targeted the far right. A large anti-far-right rally was held in Orleans, where the National Rally (RN), the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen, is holding a two-day congress through the 25th.
Demonstrators chanted slogans against both Le Pen and President Macron, calling for Macron to resign and Le Pen to go to prison. Their banners read "Young people tell the National Rally to get lost" and "Hotter than the fascists."
Police counted 11,000 participants in the anti-far-right protest, while organizers put the figure at 26,000.